The following presentation was made by Mr Lim at the Singapore Accountancy Convention on 2 July 2013.
Dr Ernest Kan, President, Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants; distinguished speakers and guests; ladies and gentlemen; good afternoon.
It is my pleasure to join you all at this year’s Singapore Accountancy Convention. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate ICPAS on its 50th anniversary as well as the change of its name to the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA).
It is timely that as ICPAS celebrates its 50th anniversary and continues to evolve to meet the needs of the profession, our Singapore accountancy sector is undergoing transformative changes towards becoming a leading global accountancy hub for the Asia Pacific region.
You have heard from a panel of distinguished speakers this morning on global accountancy trends. Turning our attention back home, let me share with you the changes that have taken place (and which will continue to take place) as we further advance the pace of transformation in the sector.
Key milestones
Let me first start by sharing with you the key milestones that we have achieved since we embarked on this journey in 2008 with the formation of the Committee to Develop the Accountancy Sector, or CDAS as we are all familiar with.
Since then, the CDAS Final Report was issued in April 2010, followed by the appointment of 11 members to the Pro-Tem Singapore Accountancy Council to realise the 10 recommendations of the CDAS Final Report.
In April this year, we implemented one of CDAS’ recommendations with the formation of the SAC to drive the implementation of the other nine recommendations. I was heartened to see many familiar faces and friends at the SAC launch reception on 1 April.
In the three years since the CDAS Final Report, much work has been done, which will be part of my outline later. What has been critical is that we have had unstinting support from our stakeholders, who stepped forward to lend their experience, guidance and leadership in numerous councils, committees and working groups.
Post-CDAS: Support from stakeholders
You will note from the chart that I have only shown the number of people involved. I can assure you that when you map this with the number of meetings held, the so called free “chargeable hours” is really significant.
I would therefore like to take this occasion to thank all of these members, whose support and contribution is absolutely key to the SAC’s progress on this journey. I encourage more stakeholders and partners to step forward and join us in this meaningful journey to transform Singapore’s accountancy sector.
Whilst we have started on our journey, there is still much more to do. However, it is important for all of us, who are part of the accountancy sector, to be able to envision where this journey will ultimately lead us.
Futurescape (Part 1)
It is the SAC’s vision for Singapore to be a beacon of global accountancy excellence.
Interestingly, the word “beacon” is also the theme of today’s conference. So what exactly is a beacon? A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device or centre designed to attract attention. At the same time, it also transmits its intention to neighbouring devices or centres within its reach.
This is exactly what Singapore desires to be – to be held up as an inspiration to the Asia Pacific region and even globally, on best practices in accountancy. We should aim to attract and guide the flow of accountancy talents from the region, international accountancy organisations, conferences and conventions to the shores of Singapore, whilst at the same time, we facilitate the export of accountancy services and talents to the region. Singapore would be considered truly a leading accountancy hub with vibrancy when we achieve this exchange of talents and services.
By achieving this goal, we are also lending our support, as the accountancy sector, to the vision set by the Economic Strategies Committee in 2010 of becoming a leading Global-Asia financial and business hub.
So the important question to ask now is, how does Singapore become a beacon of global accountancy excellence?
Futurescape (Part 2)
The CDAS Final Report has mapped out various workstreams such as the Singapore Qualification Programme (QP) and the Centres of Excellence for five specialisation pathways.
In addition to these recommendations in the CDAS Final Report, the SAC has also identified other key areas such as Productivity and Advocacy. The sum total of all these workstreams will lead us to achieving the vision of Singapore as a beacon of global accountancy excellence. And all of us, as stakeholders of the accountancy sector, play important roles in each of these workstreams.
Now let me briefly give you an update of the progress we have made so far in each of these recommendations.
Singapore QP
The Singapore QP is a game-changer in Singapore and globally, as we become the latest country to confer the Chartered Accountant designation.
The Singapore QP was launched on 3 June and I am happy to share that we now have over 90 Accredited Training Organisations (ATOs) who have committed to registering over 300 candidates. It is worth mentioning that the ATOs are made up of Public Accountancy Entities (PAEs), business corporates, ministries and statutory bodies.
I am greatly heartened by the take-up and the strong support of all the ATOs to make the launch of the Singapore QP a success. The SAC will continue to push for higher take-up with ISCA’s assistance as the Singapore QP administrator.
Chartered Accountant of Singapore
Closely tied to the Singapore QP is the Chartered Accountant of Singapore title. Today is a historic day as the CA (Singapore) title will officially replace the CPA Singapore title. It is the SAC’s hope that with the launch of the Singapore QP and the debut of this new title, it will signal our strong desire for Singapore to establish a bigger presence on the global accountancy stage.
Achieving mutual recognition with other leading professional accountancy qualifications is a key priority for the SAC as it facilitates the global recognition and international portability of CA (Singapore) title-holders.
The SAC has been in dialogue with various international professional bodies about mutual recognition across different national jurisdictions. As a first step, the SAC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the ICAEW in March 2013 to mark our commitment to exploring routes to reciprocal membership. Our aim is to sign a Reciprocal Membership Agreement when our first batch of CA (Singapore) candidates has completed the Singapore QP. We have also signed Letters of Intent with ACCA and CPA Australia.
The SAC is also in discussions with the Chartered Accountants Worldwide group to determine how Singapore, the latest country with the Chartered Accountant designation, can play a significant role in promoting the CA designation globally.
Singapore CFO Institute
Many of our CA (Singapore) title-holders are performing the roles of CFOs. It is unequivocal that CFOs form one of the key pillars of the accountancy sector.
It is thus important for the SAC to champion and celebrate the role of CFOs. This is done through the Singapore CFO Institute which was established as a platform for CFOs and aspiring CFOs to connect, learn and celebrate their roles in business and the community.
Since its establishment in Oct 2010, the Singapore CFO Institute has embarked on numerous research studies with key stakeholders and partners on issues that CFOs are actively grappling with in their work. Building on the momentum gained since its formation, the institute is keen to expand its value to the CFO community and consolidate its position as the de facto leading CFO institute.
Asia Centre of Excellence for Internal Audit (ACEIA)
The importance of the role of CFOs as guardians of financial information has been highlighted in the recent financial and economic crisis. At the same time, the crisis has also highlighted the importance of internal audit in identifying and mitigating some of the impacts on organisations.
It is arising from the recognition of the importance of internal audit that ACEIA was established to widen the talent pool and deepen the expertise in internal audit for the Asia Pacific region.
Establishing this Centre of Excellence for internal audit is particularly appropriate as Singapore has a reputation for integrity and good corporate governance. It is with this in mind that ACEIA has embarked on an internal audit landscape survey with KPMG to have greater insights into the effectiveness of internal audit in Singapore. This will be launched later this month.
Moving forward, one of ACEIA’s key plans is to develop a post-graduate programme for internal audit leadership. Other plans include conducting research into internal audit best practices that are unique to the Asia Pacific. Some of this research is already featured on the ACEIA website.
Business Valuation Institute (BVI)
As Singapore matures as a financial and business hub, we will see the level of activities such as mergers and acquisitions; corporate and debt restructuring; and initial public offerings increasing. Naturally, the demand for valuation services will rise and Singapore is well-placed to establish a niche in this area. Additionally, fair value accounting is increasingly becoming the norm in accounting standards and the need for fair value specialists in areas such as property, IP, biological assets and brands is becoming much greater.
It is with this in mind that the BVI was established. The BVI seeks to broaden and deepen the expertise of business valuers, uphold the public trust in the role they perform and enhance the reputation of business valuation professionals in the region.
The BVI will look into developing a post-graduate certification programme for business valuation professionals. It will also seek to work with international bodies to contribute to the development of business valuation standards.
Other than CFOs, internal audit and business valuation, the SAC is also working closely with the Tax Academy of Singapore and the Singapore Institute of Accredited Tax Professionals in the area of taxation. The SAC is also embarking on a survey of the risk management landscape to ascertain the need for a risk management certification programme and a risk management institute.
Establishing the accountancy profession as advocates and thought leaders
In order for Singapore to position itself as a global accountancy hub and to attract local and international talent from academia and the professional practice industry, it is imperative for the accountancy profession to be thought leaders and influencers. As CA (Singapore) title-holders, we need to establish a strong voice and be regarded as thought leaders on the forefront on various aspects of business matters, particularly in accounting-related issues.
Through the Accountancy Services Research Centre (ASRC), the SAC will actively promote thought leadership research and developmental activities.
The SAC has established a Research Advisory Council with representatives from various key stakeholders including the academia, public accounting firms and business corporates.
The ASRC will work with key partners to further Singapore’s research capabilities to establish our Chartered Accountants as advocates and thought leaders. And in the area of accounting standards, the SAC will work with Singapore’s Accounting Standards Council to provide more publications and thought leadership articles on accounting standards as they apply to Singapore and the world at large.
Raising productivity for the accountancy sector
In February 2011, the National Productivity and Continuing Education Council included the accountancy sector as one of the four new priority sectors that have the potential for productivity gains.
The SAC has been tasked with spearheading the push on productivity for the accountancy sector. We formed the SAC Productivity Advisory Council recently to develop the Accountancy Sector Productivity Roadmap, which outlines the challenges and initiatives to increase productivity for the sector.
We are gratified that we have the support of various key stakeholders, such as ACRA, ISCA, ICAEW and ACCA on the Productivity Advisory Council.
For the purpose of the Accountancy Sector Productivity Roadmap, we have defined the accountancy sector as comprising two key segments, namely PAEs and Professional Accountants in Business (PAIBs). We actually don’t have detailed statistics on these segments, and the SAC just launched a ground-breaking survey yesterday to gather statistics on them.
We will also be conducting a series of roundtables to get feedback and input on the productivity initiatives for the accountancy sector. I urge you to actively participate in these productivity roundtables.
Collaborative efforts
I am happy to see that key stakeholders in the accountancy sector have started their own initiatives to raise productivity. ISCA has started the One SMP consortium to bring together 28 SMPs on a common platform to lower training, marketing and recruitment costs as well as to develop audit and tax software. SMPs can seek to improve their productivity by tapping on the shared resources and training facilities of One SMP to achieve economies of scale.
CPA Australia has proposed bringing together SMPs under the Singapore Accountancy Alliance. The alliance will provide assurance on the quality of the SMPs by prescribing compliance with international standards and mandatory training hours as part of its rules. This leverages on CPA Australia’s extensive infrastructure for quality assurance and strong network of local SMPs.
On the SAC’s part, with support from ACCA and ISCA, we launched a ground-breaking accountancy sector survey yesterday. With more information, the SAC Productivity Advisory Council will be in a better position to propose targeted initiatives to raise the productivity of PAIBs. I encourage all of you to participate in this landmark survey and help us develop a clearer picture of the sector.
In addition, the ASRC will take on the role of conducting research for suitable benchmark productivity indicators for the accountancy sector. In doing so, further research can also be made on how best to raise productivity for each of the benchmark indicators. This will provide guidance to the SMPs and SMEs in their efforts to raise productivity.
Closing thoughts
It has been a challenging but exciting and meaningful journey for the SAC thus far. There are many more challenges ahead but I invite all of you to be a part of our journey towards making Singapore a beacon for accounting excellence. Thank you. #
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